Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gothenburg University, Medicinaregatan 16, 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden.
Sleep Med. 2013 Dec;14(12):1334-40. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2013.07.011. Epub 2013 Sep 3.
Uninterrupted sleep is of vital importance for restoration and regaining health. In intensive care units (ICUs) where recovering and healing is crucial, patients' sleep often is fragmented and disturbed due to noise from activities from oneself, other patients, and alarms. The aim of our study was to explore if sleep could be improved by modifying the sound environment in a way that is practically feasible in ICUs.
We studied the effects of originally recorded ICU noise and peak reduced ICU noise on sleep in healthy male participants. Sleep was registered with polysomnography (PSG) during four nights: one adaptation night, one reference (REF) night, and the two exposed nights with similar equivalent sound levels (47dB LAeq) but different maximum sound levels (56- vs 64-dB LAFmax). The participants answered questionnaires and saliva cortisol was sampled in the morning.
During ICU exposure nights, sleep was more fragmented with less slow-wave sleep (SWS), more arousals, and more time awake. The effects of reduced maximum sound level were minor. The subjective data supported the polysomnographic findings, though cortisol levels were not significantly affected by the exposure conditions.
Noise in ICUs impairs sleep and the reduction of maximal A-weighted levels from 64 to 56dB is not enough to have a clear improved effect on sleep quality.
不间断的睡眠对恢复和健康至关重要。在重症监护病房（ICU），恢复和康复至关重要，但由于自身、其他患者和警报发出的活动噪音，患者的睡眠经常会中断和受到干扰。我们的研究旨在探索通过改变 ICU 中的声音环境是否可以改善睡眠，而这种改变在 ICU 中是切实可行的。
我们研究了原始录制的 ICU 噪音和峰值降低的 ICU 噪音对健康男性参与者睡眠的影响。参与者在四个晚上进行了多导睡眠图（PSG）记录：一个适应晚上、一个参考（REF）晚上，以及两个暴露晚上，等效声级相似（47dB LAeq），但最大声级不同（56-与 64-dB LAFmax）。参与者回答了问卷，早上采集了唾液皮质醇样本。
在 ICU 暴露期间，睡眠更加碎片化，慢波睡眠（SWS）减少，觉醒次数增加，清醒时间增加。最大声级降低的影响较小。主观数据支持了 PSG 的发现，尽管皮质醇水平不受暴露条件的显著影响。
ICU 中的噪音会影响睡眠，将加权 A 级最大水平从 64dB 降低到 56dB 不足以对睡眠质量产生明显的改善效果。
